A big NO to education for earning only

By Wasim Sajad

Education has always been replete with stories of fostering sense-based consciousness and discipline among the dwellers of this very planet. Since times immemorial, people have used education for diverse purposes, which in turn reflect the conditions and requirements of that particular time. The epoch we are living in has got a sort of complicated scenario; on one side, education is being promoted by never ending researches and discoveries, while the other side people are behaving in much detrimental way, i.e. “education to earn only.”

Very rarely are there people committed to the idea of “education to develop”. The foremost importance in this case goes to the environment;  the natural laboratory facilitating the students’s perceptions and ideas. Most of the students and parents keep on following the traditional way and completely deny the idea of acceptance. Getting rid of such circumstances becomes difficult once one enters such an environment. Hence, they keep on practicing the same ways until there remains no more than just an “Atlas”.

Education to develop covers diverse areas, like becoming a good citizen, economically stable, make a corruption-free state, and more importantly, to serve humanity. A person keen enough to get education, keeping the above all purposes in mind and having tolerance and devotion, will undeniably flourish himself and the society day by day. However, the paramount purpose, in my eyes, should be to benefit the humanity – that’s why we were created “Ashraf Ul Makhtuqat”, or the “Crown of creation”.

We can never ever gainsay the purpose of education -to become economically stable or education to earn. No one should be skeptical about being economically stable while he or she is also having the sweet-going studies. Your commitment and devotion will automatically pave the path to gain enough wealth, hence leading prosperous life. Here also arises the question that “What if someone is feared of the expenses of education?”. This,I think, is much blatant excuse ,as there are a lot of opportunities for economically much weaker students to read in as high institutions. Furthermore, I am sure that nothing will dare to combat the keenness of a student, rather every stage will be welcoming him or her.

In Pakistan, especially in remote areas like Chitral, the idea of “Education to earn only” is at the peak. You will find majority of the people talking about “Education to Develop”, if you ask the purpose of education. When I asked a reverend of my village to educate his son, the answer was very shocking. He answered in two sentences. Firstly, we do not have enough financial resources, and, secondly, many of the educated persons are jobless and are leading downgraded lives. I prepended for a while and succinctly gave him the idea of keenness for studies. The solution of problems like this should be the great concern of the Government and Non- Government Organization to deal with. There are some reasons behind the idea of “Education to earn only.” The foremost reason goes on the side of the government. If not the whole country, the government should atleast facilitate the students belonging to the outskirt areas of the country. This will undeniably foster the interests of the students and will mark the instigation of much prosperous era.

The second paramount reason goes on the side of students themselves. Majority of the students are found keen to just pass the exams, no matter whatever grade they are placed in. hence the parents goad them to quit the further studies and go for some other fields. This reason, in turn, keeps some sub reasons. One is that of the worst environment, which the student become the part of. The second sub reason is the escalating use of unnecessary things like mobiles, internet, and so on.

To avoid the above issues, all of us should be snubbed enough to the idea of “Education to Earn Only” and should be loyal enough to the idea of “Education to Develop”. The students should come up fully to the expectations of their parents and others. Besides the government and non- government organizations should play fair play role to support the deserving students and to make the people aware of the diverse purposes of education.

The contributor is a student of BS, Geography, at the University of Peshawar. He belongs to Chitral.